Safaricom silent on details as M-PESA outage continues in Kenya
Many users have taken to social media to fault Safaricom for not alerting them of an impending M-PESA service interruption. M-PESA, the mobile money product owned by Kenya’s leading telco Safaricom, has been experiencing an outage, primarily affecting its paybill services and bank-to-M-PESA transfers. Amid frustrations from users who are voicing their concerns online, Safaricom has yet to state explicitly what is causing the disruption. The telco has only posted a brief message on its social media pages acknowledging the technical issue. “We are experiencing a recurring service intermittently affecting some paybill payments. The issue is under resolution by our technical team, we shall inform you once normal services resume,” Safaricom said on X. Customer Notice pic.twitter.com/ynAwIvx7S8 — Safaricom PLC (@SafaricomPLC) January 23, 2024 Paybill services are very popular in Kenya as they allow M-PESA users, among other mobile money service customers, to pay for goods and services or transfer money from one platform to another. Local banks have also notified their customers that they cannot transact via M-PESA channels, although some of these lenders have acknowledged that some services are back online. One bank texted customers, “We are experiencing intermittency on M-PESA services… we will advise once this is fully restored by our partners.” Poor communication from Safaricom The primary issue with these interruptions is that Safaricom does little to warn its customers of an impending outage. This has always been the norm when customers are alerted to an outage in advance. However, lately, this communication channel has deteriorated, compelling customers to demand answers from Safaricom on social media. What is becoming of @Safaricom_Care‘s MPESA nowadays? @PeterNdegwa_ seems to be very incompetent. MPESA is failing so many times these days. Currently MPESA down https://t.co/P7dtan9MwS — CPA Ng’ang’a Wa Mwangi (@Mshomolozi) January 22, 2024 A few days ago, when the same interruption occurred, it took the telco a couple of hours to inform customers what was going on with the services. Safaricom then disabled the reply option on its post on X, meaning customers could not voice their feedback. This paints a picture of a company that is not ready to engage its customers, yet most Kenyans use its products, including M-PESA. Rivals are unable to pose the needed competition Launched in 2007, M-PESA, which contributes 40% of Safaricom’s revenue, has managed to maintain its market lead for many years thanks to its early entry into the market, product innovation, and the resources of its parent company. Rivals such as Airtel Money and Telkom Kenya’s T-Kash have been struggling to gain market share and customers. In mid-2023, M-PESA led the market with a 96.5% market share, followed by Airtel Money and T-Kash at 3.4% and 0.1%, respectively. The three products serve up to 38.1 million Kenyans as of September 2023. The Central Bank of Kenya, among other government agencies, has been attempting to make other mobile money products attractive to Kenyans. Two years ago, paybill and Buy Goods services were made interoperable. However, the development has yet to pick up as locals still prefer using the more expensive M-PESA. “Pesalink needs to have an app and its own ecosystem that integrates with payment services and allows us to withdraw through local agents. Airtel needs to drop a lot of money over the next half-decade promoting Airtel Money, maybe a customer acquisition campaign,” Kiruti Itimu, an M-PESA customer suggested amidst the outage. Airtel Kenya, which rarely shares its financials publicly, has been unable to make Airtel Money an appealing proposition. Telkom Kenya, which is experiencing financial constraints of its own due to the $27 million debt it owes the American Tower Corporation (ATC), has also failed to popularise T-Kash amongst its customers. The general argument is that M-PESA is too big to beat—although this argument was debunked following a study by Analysys Mason. The last attempt to change things could happen if Airtel Money and T-Kash customers can access M-PESA agency network because out of the 338,209 registered agents, the majority of them serve M-PESA customers.
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👨🏿🚀TechCabal Daily – Zilla’s interesting pivot
In partnership with Share this newsletter: Lire en Français اقرأ هذا باللغة العربية Happy salary week If you’re looking for something nice to spend your salary on, the $3,500 Apple Vision Pro should be off your list—and not just because it’s above your pay grade . Pre-orders for the Vision Pro are sold out. The company has sold over 200,000 of its niche MR headsets already, and some analysts predict it could sell over 500,000 pieces before the year runs out. If this teaches you anything other than how FOMO works, it should tell you that some of your friends are lying about not having any money. In today’s edition SafeBoda to return to Kenya Zilla pivots to cross-border payments Interswitch and OPay partner up Zambia moves to upgrade its towers Musk says Tesla isn’t coming to SA The World Wide Web3 Events Mobility SafeBoda to relaunch in Kenya Image Source: SafeBoda SafeBoda is coming back to Kenyan roads. Per BenjaminDada, the ride-hailing startup is set to make a return to Kenya on February 4 after a three-year hiatus. SafeBoda paused its operations in the country due to the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some experts also attribute SafeBoda’s exit to increasing competition from established startups like Boltboda, uberBODA and Juuboda. SafeBoda has yet to present a reason for its return, however, it’s in for some feisty challenge. The startup now has to win over its previous riders who have now joined its competitors. Before shuttering its operation in Kenya, SafeBoda reportedly had over 4,000 riders. It is unclear if SafeBoda has gotten regulatory approval to resume operations from Kenya’s transport regulator, the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA). Zoom out: Following its departure from Kenya in 2020, the ride-hailing startup also left Nigeria in 2022. It, however, doubled down on its Ugandan market introducing new services like electric bikes, trip insurance, and SafeCar, its car-hailing service. It remains to be seen if Safeboda has the same play in mind for its Kenyan renaissance. Access payments with Moniepoint Moniepoint has made it simple for your business to access payments while providing access to credit and other business tools. Open an account today here. Fintech Zilla’s interesting BNPL lessons Globally, buy-now-pay-later is a huge phenomenon. Klarna, one of the leading startups offering BNPL services, is valued at $6.7 billion and in 2022, the value of all items customers used Klarna to pay for was $83.7 billion. Yep, let that sink in. In Nigeria, while we’ve seen fintechs offer BNPL, we’ve not seen a lot of data that helps us understand how customers use the service. In the last three years, startups like CDCare, Carbon Zero and Zilla have been leading the charge to convince Nigerians to pay for items installmentally instead of putting down huge upfront payments. It feels like a no-brainer that people would love this service. Yet, our exclusive reporting today on Zilla, a BNPL service launched in 2021, suggests that there may be cultural problems slowing down the adoption of BNPL by customers. At least, that’s what the company thinks. And that’s why the company is pausing its BNPL offering. “One of our biggest challenges has been that a lot of people don’t understand how credit works and think it is about owing people,” one employee told TechCabal. However, some merchants who allow their customers pay with Zilla have an altogether different theory. One vendor, for instance, believes repayment periods of two to four months don’t work for a lot of customers. When people buy expensive items, they want to stretch the payment for up to a year. It may very well change the way we think about offering credit and asset financing. Go deeper. Secure payment gateway for your business Fincra payment gateway enables you to easily collect Naira payments as a business; you can collect payments in minutes through cards, bank transfers and PayAttitude. Create a free account and start collecting NGN payments with Fincra. Fintech Interswitch buddies up with OPay Nigerian fintech heavyweights Interswitch and OPay have partnered for the launch of a new payment gateway. What payment gateway? Stylised as “Interswitch Payment Gateway (IPG)”, the feature will allow OPay users to make online payments. This simplifies online payments for millions of OPay users, who were previously limited to cards, bank transfers, or QR codes. The new collaboration will allow users to make purchases online and get debited through their OPay wallets. Why does this matter? The new feature, which presents a more seamless way to make online payments, opens up an avenue for increased online purchases. Currently, over 200,000 businesses transact on the Interswitch platform daily, and a synergy withOPay’s 30 million registered users and 100,000+ merchants will boost Interswitch’s numbers. OPay’s registered users and merchants also provide additional revenue streams for Interswitch whose estimated annual revenue is about $313.6 million per year. The move also signals a potential market expansion for Interswitch, which is dominant in traditional card payment processing and merchant acquisition in Nigeria. Zoom out: This is not the first synergy between fintech giants in Africa. In 2006, Kenyan Mobile payment platform, M-Pesa paired up with Equity Bank’s extensive branch network to allow for seamless transaction of funds between users. Both players saw significant growth and solidified their dominance in the Kenyan financial landscape. Introducing Transfers to bank accounts in Ghana Paystack merchants in Ghana can now send single and bulk transfers to Ghanaian bank accounts from the Paystack Dashboard and via API. Learn more → Internet Zambia upgrades communication towers to 3G and 4G Zambia’s communication towers are receiving a 3G and 4G makeover. The Southern African country has commenced the upgrade of 87 communication towers in its northern region—Muchinga province—from 2G to 3G and 4G networks. Per Felix Mutati, minister of science and technology, internet access improved by 5% in 2022, reaching 58% by 2023. This upgrade will bring better and faster mobile internet and social media access for many residents who don’t have internet access. access.
Read MoreBNPL Blues: Zilla hits pause as consumer understanding hampers growth
Zilla, the Buy-Now-Pay-Later company founded in 2019, has paused its BNPL services and is now focusing on a cross-border payment product, Zillawire, after struggling to convince customers to use the service, two people with knowledge of the matter told TechCabal. “One of our biggest challenges has been that a lot of people don’t understand how credit works and think it is about owing people,” one employee who asked not to be named told TechCabal. “Most customers would rather wait until they have the complete amount of money to pay than get one now and pay in installments,” the person added. The company confirmed the decision to pause its BNPL offering to TechCabal and said it “had a couple of things to figure out.” The company claimed that “resuming the service is in the works” without sharing any specific timelines. Zilla was launched in 2021 by Tolu Abiodun and has about 100 merchants that provide various products and services that customers can pay for in two to four installments. Despite sluggish adoption, two categories that performed fairly well were electronics and beauty products from high-end stores, as these are typically too expensive for the average consumer to pay for at once, said one person close to the business. But even these high-performing categories provided a problem: customers wanted more than the maximum four months Zilla provided to finalise payments. “The economy is tough, and people need more time,” said Joshua, who runs a gadget store registered with Zilla. “Customers who want to buy now and pay later for phones or laptops prefer to use other services like CDCare, as they give you a chance to pay for as long as a year.” Victoria, a vendor who sells wigs and other beauty products, has had about five customers use Zilla in the two years since she joined the BNPL service. Two of those five customers eventually asked Zilla for a payment extension as they found completing payments after four months challenging. Pivoting to cross-border payments? Zilla’s new product, Zillawire, processes foreign transactions with suppliers on behalf of merchants. According to information on their website, merchants are required to upload their invoices as well as the account information of the supplier for this service. On the reason for building a cross-border payment product, the employee shared that the company noticed that a lot of their merchants were having some issues with their international payments for their products and wanted to do something about that. According to her, Zillawire, which launched in August 2023, performed better than expected and so the company is focusing on that now.
Read MoreWhy Yemisi Isidi is championing mentorship for early-stage founders
Yemisi Isidi moved back to Nigeria from the UK in 2017, and after seeing how difficult it was for businesses, especially women-owned ones, to scale, she decided to do something about it. At first, she started helping small business owners utilise social media to grow their businesses until that seemed inadequate, and then she moved into providing micro-loans through a company she started, Triift Africa. After a while, even that became inadequate as she discovered that beyond finances, entrepreneurs required a lot of structure and good management to thrive, and so she decided to step up to that. Yemisi, who graduated from Aston University in Birmingham with a degree in Accounting and Business Management started to provide advisory services to business owners. In the last two years, Yemisi Isidi has been involved in the disbursement of over $10 million to early founders and business owners. She has also been invested in providing technical advisory to enterprise programs, as well as mentorship and access through various accelerators and incubation programs like the She Leads Africa program and The Future Female Business School which was set up by the UK-Nigeria Tech Hub to support young female tech founders. Some alumni of these programs include Medsaf, Shuttlers, and Auto Girl. For Centre Stage, TechCabal had a chat with Yemisi on the role of mentorships in building sustainable businesses. How would you describe yourself outside of the work that you do? Yemisi Isidi: I am a very driven and passionate person. I care deeply about seeing things grow, whether it’s a business, idea, or community and this shapes whatever it is that I do. I like to see people live better lives and a lot of times I am grateful that I get to contribute to that through my work. At an event some weeks ago, you mentioned that you didn’t agree with the narrative of female founders being over-mentored. Please can you speak about that some more? YI: The popular saying is that female startup founders are over-mentored and underfunded. I agree with the underfunded path and I’ve seen a lot more effort in that regard with programmes intentionally focused on putting money in the hands of female founders, whether startup founders or SME business owners. But when we say female founders are over-mentored, then I don’t agree. Mentorship covers a lot of things, including operational advice. If you have an investor who gives you money, but isn’t holding you accountable and doesn’t understand your industry enough to give you professional advice or access to a valuable network, then there’s a very high chance of you failing, despite the money and this is applicable to both male and female founders. Startups that were part of local incubation or accelerator programmes are more likely to succeed, and it’s not just about money but also access to a network and accountability structure that supports their growth. We’ve seen startups that were on the brink of folding but were resuscitated by their local investors. Not just with money, but also with them being able to rally and provide management with the support that they need to pull them through the process. Underfunded and over-mentored just sounds like “Give me the money and leave me alone to do the work.” But there are bigger questions that need to be answered to build a sustainable business, questions like if they know how to do the work and if they’re always going to be motivated when doing the work. There needs to be additional support beyond funding that makes it easier for people to build profitable and sustainable businesses, and this is a gap that mentorship covers. So yes, women are underfunded, but there is still room for mentorship. What are some of the benefits of mentorship to early-stage founders that people don’t pay attention to? YI: There are so many benefits, but I will share two. First, it gives you access to a network community, which makes it easier to get external funding, especially when you’re part of a recognised mentoring programme. But most importantly, it makes it easier to bootstrap to generate internal funding. Perhaps the mistake here is when we think about funding, we’re thinking of another person who is not a customer giving you money, but there’s funding that is your business being profitable and having healthy cash flow, and I’ve seen how these mentorings and training make it possible for businesses to achieve this more quickly. Another investor spoke to us about startups not necessarily requiring a huge investment to start operations in the early days. What do you think about that? YI: Businesses do need money for operations, licences, research, etc, depending on what they’re building. Finding investors early makes it possible to focus on building the business rather than trying to look for other streams of income to sustain it, so money is essential in making growth happen faster. However, it is not always straightforward. I think that a lot of money stifles innovation and problem-solving, especially when there is no accountability. Corporate Governance is already a big issue in our ecosystem. Too much money where there is no solid foundation, assured integrity or product market fit can be a problem. Even when you have a clear path to success, we have a very unpredictable market so it’s important to think about how to build sustainably from the beginning. What are some of your most important wins in the past years? YI: Over the past two years alone, have been involved in enabling access to over $10 million in funding for early-stage startups and businesses across six African countries. I’ve also worked with about 700 entrepreneurs across Africa to build investment-ready and profitable businesses and aided them in accessing available funding opportunities. In 2017, I organised the Illorin Digital Summit which had over 1000 people in attendance from different states across the North Central and Western parts of Nigeria. That work has now evolved to become Cirkle Labs which is an
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👨🏿🚀TechCabal Daily – Angola’s apex bank escapes hack
In partnership with Share this newsletter: Lire en Français اقرأ هذا باللغة العربية Happy salary week Our sister company, Zikoko, is hiring some content creators. So if you’re a wizard at creating vox pop content but hate being called a TikToker, here’s your chance to make magic happen. Apply here. In today’s edition Angola’s apex bank escapes hack Kenya warns Airtel and Telkom Telecom Egypt to launch 5G in three months Nigeria to hold first rate meeting in February What’s the average African startup to unicorn time? The World Wide Web3 Events Cybersecurity Angola’s central bank escapes hack GIF Source: GIPHY Last week, Angola’s apex bank revealed that it escaped an attempted hack on January 6, 2024. The news: Banco Nacional de Angola (BNA) says there’s nothing to worry about. Per its statement, the bank’s security systems caught the cyber threat quickly and prevented any major damage to its computers or data. They were able to keep their online services running safely and efficiently, although maybe a bit slower than usual. It’s more common than you think: While cyberattacks on commercial banks and fintechs raise eyebrows, silent alarms are often ringing at central banks across Africa. The governor of the BNA José de Lima Massano, in May 2023, said that the apex bank records about 350 attempts per day. In December 2022, the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) was, ironically, alerted by the FBI to a breach it still denies to this day. Months before the SARB hack, the Bank of Zambia had fallen victim to a hacker collective called Hive which had ransom demands. That same year, the Bank of Gambia suffered two separate cyberattacks. More recently, in December 2023, the Central Bank of Lesotho suffered an attack that crashed inter-bank transactions in the country. African governments take action: In the face of rising cyber threats, 33 African nations, including heavyweights like Nigeria, South Africa, and Egypt, have taken the first step by enacting cybersecurity legislation. The bad news is that this may be one of those things where the tech is two steps ahead of the legislation. A 2018 hack on Bangladesh’s apex bank account left regulators and operators dumbfounded. The hackers made away with $81 million using SWIFT, the financial service used by over 11,000 institutions globally. Since then, no major legislation has been made to prevent another hack, but the IMF suggests that international cooperation is key to stopping these hacks. Access payments with Moniepoint Moniepoint has made it simple for your business to access payments while providing access to credit and other business tools. Open an account today here. Telecoms Kenya warns Airtel and Telkom over poor service Image source: Zikoko Memes Kenya’s phone regulator, the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA), has slapped Airtel and Telkom Kenya with warning notices and fines for failing to meet quality of service (QoS) standards. This action by the regulator indicates that customers on these networks have likely faced issues like dropped calls, slow internet speeds, and inconsistent coverage across various regions. Side bar: The CA regularly tests mobile networks against benchmarks for call success rate, internet speed, and coverage. To be considered compliant, networks must score at least 80% on these key performance indicators (KPIs). In the latest report covering June 2023, Safaricom, the market leader, exceeded expectations with 90%, but Airtel and Telkom significantly missed the mark with 79% and 65%, respectively. This reflects a broader trend of declining service quality in the Kenyan telecoms industry, with the average score dropping from 82.3% in 2022 to 72.4% in 2023. Why it matters: Poor mobile network quality directly impacts people’s lives—just consider the numerous times you’ve found yourself asking “Can you hear me?” this year. Dropped calls can disrupt business; slow internet hinders productivity and access to information; and inadequate coverage leaves people unconnected in rural areas. Are penalties working? Between 2015 and 2021, Airtel coughed up KES85.9 million ($540,000) as a bitter reminder of its QoS shortcomings. Telkom has also forked over KES59.3 million ($373,000) in penalties for its bad behaviour coverage. In fact, CA has fined Kenyan telecoms over KES500 million ($3.1 million) in the past five years for poor coverage, but the telecoms keep disappointing their 86 million mobile subscribers. This raises questions about whether the current penalty structure is strong enough to incentivise lasting change. Secure payment gateway for your business Fincra payment gateway enables you to easily collect Naira payments as a business; you can collect payments in minutes through cards, bank transfers and PayAttitude. Create a free account and start collecting NGN payments with Fincra. Telecoms Telecom Egypt to test 5G within three months Mohamed Nasr, MD and CEO of Telecoms Egypt. Source: Telecoms Egypt Talk about a quick turnaround time. Egypt’s government-owned telecom has announced that citizens can expect 5G this year. The news: Telecom Egypt (TE) has begun testing 5G services in five locations across the country, aiming for a full rollout later in 2024. This follows the company’s recent acquisition of Egypt’s first 5G licence for $150 million last Wednesday. In an interview with Asharq Business, the company said the tests will span three months, followed by a nationwide rollout. Mo’ spectrum, mo’ subscribers: 5G has the potential to be a significant revenue stream for TE, attracting new customers for its 13 million subscriber base and boosting its bottom line. TE trails behind Vodacom and Orange which have 46 million subscribers and 28 million subscribers respectively, and it thinks 5G will bring more Egyptians to its table. CEO Mohamed Nasr expects the financial impact to be evident by the end of 2024. Already the telecom saw a 48% net profit in 2023, and more subscribers means even better margins, especially with the $150 million hole in its pockets. Will it though? Out of Egypt’s 97.5 million devices, only 8%, or about 7.8 million, are 5G-enabled, as admitted by Nasr earlier this month. While Nasr expects that the numbers will increase in the coming months, it’s unlikely that
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Next Wave: Trading second-hand shares in African startups does not make money anymore. That’s good?
Cet article est aussi disponible en français <!– In partnership with –> <!–TopBanner Join us for TechCabal Battlefield, Moonshot’s startup competition where you can showcase your startup idea to a global audience and an esteemed panel of judges and stand a chance to win up to 2.5 million naira in funding for your business! Click to register for TC Battlefield First published 21 January, 2024 Secondary selling—also known as secondhand trading—exists everywhere. The markets of Lagos, Kinshasa and De Villiers Street in Johannesburg are full of traders and buyers haggling over bales of “pre-loved” clothing. A significant number of iPhones and laptops sold in Africa are “London-used”. Even luxury brands are not spared: Richemont, LVMH and Rolex all walk the fine line between maintaining demand via waitlisting and pushing desperate luxury shoppers to the grey secondary markets for pre-owned watches and other luxury items. Secondaries happen everywhere. One can argue that this secondary market is the real market. Trading shares of publicly listed companies on a stock exchange, for example, is simply a series of parallel secondary transactions at scale. When people talk about the financial market, this is the market they are usually referring to. It is the same for the parts of the bond market, commodities, and (maybe) even the market for financial derivatives built on top of secondary trades. TechCabal’s Muktar Oladunmade and I have written about how secondary transactions in Africa’s technology space made founders, startup employees and early-stage investors rich. We also pointed out that the heyday of secondary transactions seems over as people struggle to shed shares in private venture-backed technology startups in Africa. Sure founding teams and angel investors may have abused secondary transactions by selling dressed-up burnt potatoes to newer investors and cashing out. But unless almost every primary investment made in the four years between 2018 and 2022 is a smouldering wreckage about to explode in flames, the secondary market in Africa shouldn’t be frozen. It also should not be about making easy wealth à la 2021 and 2022. Instead, it should be playing a role in creating a market-clearing (for want of a better word) valuation for African startups now that the peculiarities of the market are better known. We’ve spoken about local tech IPOs, but it will remain a pipe dream if the private market for secondary transactions continues to jealously guard valuations that are improbable. In the world of venture capital, secondary market transactions happen because investors are desperate to buy stakes in “hot” companies, or want to consolidate their gains in what they feel is a portfolio winner. Or maybe they just want to keep founders and key employees happy by allowing them to taste some of the paper wealth they’ve accumulated. It’s a much different world today. There are fewer “hot” startups to chase after, regardless of how much marketing and PR arsenal is deployed. Valuations are too steep for anyone remotely interested, and layoffs are all too common. The State of Tech in Africa Q3 2023 By the end of the 3rd quarter of 2023: Two African countries gave crypto a greenlight. 738 tech workers were laid off in Africa. 7 acquisitions were reported. And energy/climate tech related companies took the spotlight. Plus a lot more! Download the full report to revisit one of last year’s most notable quarters Get it in your inbox But in many ways, a tighter secondary market is a beast of its own making. Like any market, selling “second-hand” shares in a company will be difficult if there are no buyers or sellers, or when buyers and sellers cannot agree on a price. Since venture funding is at a 3-year low in Africa, I suspect it’s a mixture of no or few buyers, creating a wide gap between the price buyers offer and what sellers want. This standoff is unnecessary because it is prolonging a much-needed rebalancing in the world of African venture. And it is disreputable to pretend as if this rebalancing is not already happening. While it is undoubtedly deserved in most cases, it is not a stretch to think that some good companies will be destroyed in this unforgiving market correction. A lot of that value destruction will happen because existing investors are too timid or blinded by fear to stand by their convictions. But some of it will happen because VCs are already writing down the value of companies in their portfolio to zero mentally. Writing down a company to zero mentally means the investor lacks the mental or operational bandwidth (not necessarily funds) to support a portfolio company. When an investor mentally writes down huge swathes of their portfolio, the investor (and the investee) automatically become deadweight to each other. It is either the investor made colossal mistakes with the ventures they backed. Or they are making one with that unconscious decision to give up on the hidden gems within the company. An active secondary market was the exciting place where riches were to be made. Now it will have to be the painful and useful place where portfolios are rebalanced and expectations are reset. Tweeting and WhatsApping about it will not change anything. Now that the quick flip method of going to the secondary market to extract high prices for poor investee companies is not working, startup investors (who still have cash to deploy) may fare better if they approach the deadlocked secondary market as an opportunity to scour the market and rethink what they are best placed to support and what exits in that sector should mean. Do you have a message for Africa’s tech leaders, policymakers or the leading workers building the continent’s startups? Talk to us to find out how we can help share your message on this newsletter. Email bizdev@bigcabal.com to start. Send an email. Instead of hoping for secondary transactions that will “reward” early investors and founding teams. Investors may find that is better to take advantage of current deep discounts to rebalance portfolios that were damaged by
Read MoreNigeria Central Bank bows to pressure, sets interest hike meeting date for February
Nigeria’s Central Bank has bowed to pressure and is scheduling its first rate hike meeting for February 26-27, 2024. It will be the first rate meeting since July 2023. In December, the Central Bank Governor Yemi Cardoso said monetary transmission mechanisms had rendered the rate meetings “largely ineffective.” According to a calendar released by the bank today, the CBN is proposing six rate meetings throughout 2024. Monetary Policy Committee meetings, which set interest rates, is an instrument through which the CBN controls inflation. Nigeria’s inflation has soared all through 2023 to a 27-year high. While experts who have spoken to TechCabal on inflation figures have predicted interest rate hikes, Yemi Cardoso has held out, failing to call any meeting since his appointment. Adedayo Bakare, an investment analyst at Money Africa, believes raising interest still holds the key to curbing inflation. “MPR is not ineffective; the CBN has broken the transmission of MPR to the financial markets and the overall economy,” Bakare said.
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Watershed report: How to unlock value in a funding winter
An optimistic way to think of 2023 is to consider it a seminal year for stakeholders in the African tech ecosystem. On the one hand, the global economic climate made it a challenging year for fundraising, especially among African startups that recorded an unprecedented 36% decline in funding from the previous year for reasons that have been well documented. On the other hand, the challenges have led to deeper thinking among investors, who are now looking at novel ways to adapt and build resilience for 2024. One such way is through the predicted rise of mergers and acquisitions. Another is a renewed focus on secondary markets for liquidity lifelines. These ideas and more have been captured in our newly released 2023 Watershed Report, which provides startups with the unique opportunity to solve huge problems using innovative solutions. Here are a few highlights from the report: A decade that has seen startups raise close to $20 billion in funding Prospects of an emerging local venture capital market Contending with economic headwinds vis-a-vis evolving regulatory directions New ways to unlock value Leveraging data and an informal approach backed by empirical evidence To get actionable insights from this report, please visit: https://techcabal.com/report/watershed-report-building-for-2024/
Read MoreShowmax steps up streaming battle with Premier League on mobile plan
After taking over Africa’s market mantle from US streaming giant, Netflix, in 2023, South Africa’s Showmax is turning to smartphones to tap into a wider pool of football fanatics. The MultiChoice-owned streamer has introduced mobile-only subscriptions for Premier League content as part of a new package for its second iteration- Showmax 2.0, launching in mid-February. “Showmax Premier League is a game-changing product that gives individuals a ticket to the football they love, wherever they are, on the device they always have with them, at a price that’s impossible not to love,” said Marc Jury, CEO of Showmax, in a statement. Mobile subscribers will pay US$3.69 (R69) per month for ‘the world’s first standalone Premier League plan for mobile.’ which is about 10 times cheaper than monthly DSTV subscriptions offering Premier League plans. The Premier League plan offers all 380 Premier League games live from SuperSport, as well as fan content, talk shows, interviews and more, on mobile only, said Showmax on its new website. “There are currently just over 450 million smartphones in the hands of individuals across Africa … and more than 250 million avid football lovers on the continent,” said Jury. Premier League Chief Executive Officer, Richard Masters said in the statement that Africa was incredibly important to the league and its clubs, with about 20% of television audiences on any given match day coming from Africa. Subscribers also have a choice to bundle up the Premier League with another new offering, the company’s Entertainment plan, which includes hit international and trending local series and movies, kids’ shows and more on mobile only. Alongside the Premier League, the new Showmax offering will introduce 21 new Showmax Originals that will see the streaming platform produce more than 1 300 hours of Showmax Originals by the close of 2024, representing a significant 150% increase in production output, compared to 2023. It has scheduled a migration plan to its new app and website for existing customers, from January 23 to mid-February, 2024. Showmax’s new platform is built on NBC Universal’s Peacock streaming platform, following a partnership with Comcast’s NBCUniversal and Sky in 2023. The partnership has given Showmax fresh muscle to maintain its lead as Africa’s largest streaming platform, in a very competitive market. In November 2023, tech research-based firm, Omdia Research showed that Showmax accounted for 40% of Africa’s streaming market, while Netflix controlled 35% of the eyeballs. Research firm, Digital TV said last year that Africa’s streaming video-on-demand sector has evolved into a battle between Netflix and local player Showmax, with the two expected to play a significant role in attracting 10 million new subscribers on the continent by the end of 2030. By the end of the review period, the African market is projected to have a total of 18 million streaming video-on-demand (SVOD) subscribers.
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👨🏿🚀Techcabal Daily – Amazon Prime hits pause in Africa
In partnership with Share this newsletter: Lire en Français اقرأ هذا باللغة العربية TGIF We’re excited to bring you a comprehensive roundup of funding, acquisitions, and significant developments in Africa’s tech ecosystem for Q4, 2023. Yes, we’re launching the State of Tech Report for Q4 2023 on Friday, January 26, 2023. Want to attend? Click this link to register. In today’s edition Amazon Prime is scaling back its Africa operations A $1 billion UNDP fund Globacom gets an extra 21 days to pay interconnect fees Egypt leaps into 5G Openview attacks DStv’s monopoly Funding tracker The World Wide Web3 Job Openings Streaming Amazon Prime lays off staff and pulls back from Africa Amazon Prime is scaling back its operations in Africa. The streaming platform is restructuring its business, reducing local content production and laying off staff in Africa and the Middle East to focus on European markets. This comes after Amazon Global announced that it was laying off hundreds of employees across its Prime Video and MGM studio teams. Although Amazon will still be present in Africa, it will only concentrate efforts on areas that “drive the highest impact and long-term success”. Ambitions take a turn: Amazon Prime’s retreat comes after big plans to become the top streaming platform on the continent. Marked by a hiring spree and inked partnerships with at least four local production studios, the platform had set up dedicated teams for their two biggest markets: Nigeria and South Africa. In 2021, the streaming platform was estimated to have 575,000 customers in sub-Saharan Africa, and they were projected to hit 1.9 million by 2026. Africa’s streaming market: Tech-focused professionals are financing and creating Nollywood content for international platforms, with Netflix’s The Black Book as an example, which was watched more than 70 million times in less than three weeks on Netflix. While Africa’s streaming market has seen growth, challenges persist. IrokoTV, Africa’s oldest streaming service, had only 46,000 active users in December 2022, a 76% decline from the beginning of the year. Last year, Netflix with its 1.2 million subscribers, also lost its market leader position to Showmax, MultiChoice’s streaming service, which now has 1.4 million subscribers on the continent. Access payments with Moniepoint Moniepoint has made it simple for your business to access payments while providing access to credit and other business tools. Open an account today here. Venture Capital Timbuktoo, the $1 billion UNDP fund Image Source: UNDP The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Rwanda, and seven other African countries have joined forces to launch the Timbuktoo African Innovation fund which will invest $1 billion in 1,000 tech startups across the continent in the next 10 years. Timbuktoo? Timbuktoo will invest in African startups across pre-seed, seed, and pre-Series A stages. Of the $1 billion funds earmarked for investment, the Timbuktoo Fund will contribute $350 million of risk-tolerant capital which it hopes will attract an additional $650 million from private investors. Timbuktoo will also provide financing for accelerators and venture builders from the $1 billion fund. Spread of the funds: Timbuktoo is taking a targeted approach to disbursing the funds across the continent, in various sectors: Morocco (hospitality and tourism), Senegal (edtech), Nigeria (fintech), Ghana (agritech), South Africa (creative economy), Kenya (green tech), Rwanda (health tech), and Egypt (trade, logistics, and e-commerce). Secure payment gateway for your business Fincra payment gateway enables you to easily collect Naira payments as a business; you can collect payments in minutes through cards, bank transfers and PayAttitude. Create a free account and start collecting NGN payments with Fincra. Telecom Globacom gets an extra 21 days to pay interconnect fees Meme source: Tenor Glo users can rest now. The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has granted the telecom a 21-day extension to settle interconnect fees owed to MTN, delaying a planned phased disconnection. Sidebar: Interconnect fees are the charges paid by one network operator to another for handling and terminating calls on the receiving network. ICYMI: Globacom reportedly owes MTN about ₦6 billion ($6.7 million) in interconnect fees, which led the NCC to approve the partial disconnection of Globacom from MTN Nigeria on January 8. The disconnection would have been implemented yesterday, but the commission extended the grace period after both telecoms agreed to work things out within the next 21 days. Had the phased disconnection proceeded, Globacom’s 61.39 million subscribers would have been unable to call MTN users, but MTN users would still have retained the ability to reach Glo users. A persistent dispute: Although Glo reportedly denied owing MTN any outstanding fees, this ongoing dispute over interconnect fees has persisted for over 15 years, with previous threats from MTN to disconnect Glo. In 2019, MTN disconnected Globacom for five days, resulting in Glo paying ₦2.6 billion ($3 million), out of a total ₦4.4 billion ($5.1 million) owed, in interconnect fees. During the same period, Airtel also issued threats to disconnect Glo. Telecom Telecom Egypt Secures 15-Year $150 Million 5G licence from NTRA Image source: Daily News Egypt In more telecom news, Egypt has taken the first leap into 5G. The National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (NTRA) of Egypt has awarded the nation’s first 5G licence to the state-owned Telecom Egypt. The announcement follows the Egyptian government’s plan, unveiled two months ago, to issue 5G licences. The $150 million licence isn’t exclusive, though, and the NTRA could award more 5G licences in the future. The future of 5G in Africa: While over a dozen African countries have launched 5G, it’s mostly in select cities or test projects. Building the full networks takes time, so even though Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, and Kenya have officially started 5G, 4G will likely rule for a while longer. According to a report from Ericsson, from the present until 2029, 4G subscriptions are projected to constitute 49% of total mobile subscriptions in the region. In contrast, 5G subscriptions will make up 16% of all mobile subscriptions by that time. 4G is expected to remain the dominant technology for the foreseeable future due to its broader
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